Dr Simon Chu
Senior Lecturer
School of Psychology and Humanities
Simon is an applied psychological scientist with expertise in experimental psychology, human cognition, forensic mental health and research design. He is a Chartered Psychologist, Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Simon is currently seconded to an NHS forensic mental health research unit.
Simon is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology and teaches mainly on the MSc Applied Clinical Psychology programme, leading a module on clinical research design, as well as teaching forensic psychology topics on the undergraduate degree programmes. He also supervises postgraduate research students and undergraduate research projects. Simon is based in the School only on a part-time basis; since 2013, Simon has been seconded as a Research Fellow at Ashworth Research Centre (ARC), Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, which is the only dedicated research unit in the UK that is based within a high secure mental health unit. ARC is a UCLan-led research unit and there, Simon serves as the Clinical Innovations Research Lead.
Aside from a transformative year spent teaching mathematics in a Caribbean high school, Simon has been involved in psychology since 1990. His PhD was awarded for research investigating the effect of ambient odour on cognition and he worked as a Lecturer at the University of Liverpool for six years prior to joining the University of Central Lancashire in 2004. At UCLan, he assisted in the development of programmes and new teaching modules, and prior to his secondment to Ashworth Research Centre in 2013, he was Examinations Officer and Lead for Undergraduate Programmes in the School. As the Clinical Innovations Research Lead at Ashworth Research Centre, Simon manages a vibrant team of researchers and leads the development of clinically-focused research projects across a broad spectrum of issues in response to specific needs in mental health service delivery.
- PhD Psychology, University of Liverpool, 1998
- BA (Hons) Psychology, University of Liverpool, 1993
- Human memory and cognition
- Face processing
- Mental health service delivery
- Forensic Psychology
- British Psychological Society Chartered Membership
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
- Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society
Simon’s research interests span three distinct fields; human cognition, forensic psychology, and mental health. His work in cognitive psychology has focused on memory function and processes, including memory for faces. Human aggression is the focus of his research interests in forensic psychology, and specifically the influences of sleep and cognition on aggression. Simon has also been involved in developing mental health research projects, having lead projects on medication side effects and mental health nursing practise.
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- National Institute of Health Research, 2016-2017
- A feasibility trial of glycopyrrolate in comparison to hyoscine hydrobromide and placebo in the treatment of clozapine-induced hypersalivation, £238K (co-investigator)
- Stanley Medical Research Institute, 2015-2018
- A randomised double blind placebo controlled pilot study of minocycline and/or Omega-3 fatty acids added to treatment as usual for At Risk Mental States, US$298K (co-investigator)
- Nuffield Foundation, 2010
- Olfactory conditioning of positive performance in humans, £8K (Chief Investigator)
- British Psychological Society, Division of Forensic Psychology Annual Conference, 2015
- International Association of Law and Mental Health conference, 2017
Telephone:+44 (0)1772895178
Email: Email:Dr Simon Chu
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